Peptide Formation on an Oligonucleotide Template: Oligonucleotides will be synthesized that carry a 2' (3') aminoacyl ester at the 3'-terminus. Addition of a less than stoichiometric amount of the complementary polynucleotide and incubation in a mildly alkaline solution at about the melting temperature of the complex should result in the formation of peptides. It is expected that this reaction will show enantiomeric specificity: CPK and Kendrew molecular models suggest that a right-handed helix based on D-ribose nucleotides will generate peptides that contain a preponderance of L-aminoacids. Chemical Evolution of 3',5'-Linked Complementary Oligonucleotides: The formation of ribooligonucleotides that are predominantly 3',5'-linked will be attempted. The starting material will be a mixture of nucleoside 2',3' cyclic phosphates and the reaction will take place inside a specially constructed apparatus that cycles both in temperature and in humidity. This should result in 1) the accumulation of complementary oligonucleotide strands, and 2) the gradual disappearance of 2',57-internucleotide linkages. Other Template Reactions: The kinetics of joining of oligouridylate cyclic phosphates on a poly(A) template, and the decomposition rate of the 2',5' and 3',5' isomers of L-ApA (the unnatural isomer of ribose) on a D-poly(U) template will be determined.